1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to specimen collection containers and more particularly relates to a method and apparatus for aligning readable information applied to a plurality of specimen collection containers.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common for medical specimens to be collected by a technician in a collection container for subsequent testing. Blood specimens are typically collected in blood collection tubes. These tubes are transported or shipped to a test facility together with documentation relating to the particular test and to the patient from which the blood specimen was taken.
Much of the information which identifies the test, and/or the patient, can be reduced to a scannable bar code which can be placed on the blood collection tube. The bar code is typically applied to the tube by use of an adhesive label where it can be conveniently scanned by a bar code scanner to provide the requisite information to the medical technician. Bar code scanning is often done with a hand-held scanner, or alternatively, with a fixed bar code reader.
In either case, it is necessary to properly orient the blood collection tube so that the scannable bar code is conveniently presented to the bar code reader. Quite often, orientation requires manual rotation of the tube to assure that the scannable bar code can be read by the scanner. In other situations, pick and place mechanisms may be used to lift and rotate the tube to provide such orientation. As may be appreciated, individual manual rotation of a plurality of tubes is difficult, time-consuming and subject to manual error. Mechanical devices which lift and rotate the tube are cumbersome to use and costly.
Another prior art solution to the alignment of bar codes is to apply the bar code continuously around the circumference of the tube. This allows the bar code to be read regardless of the rotational orientation of the tube. However, employing a bar code label of this type has several disadvantages. First, due to the increased size of the bar code, there is little additional space for the user to apply requisite information at the blood collection site. Additionally, continuous bar code labels of this type are expensive to manufacture and difficult to apply.
There exists a need to improve the efficiency and accuracy of aligning scannable bar codes on a plurality of labeled specimen collection containers.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for establishing the position of readable information applied to a specimen collection container.
Preferably, the readable information is provided by way of a scannable bar code label applied to the container.
More preferably, the label includes a non-adhesive section which results in a portion of the label protruding from the container. The container is then movably supported within a container holder. The holder itself has a projection engageable with the protruding portion of the label upon movement of the container therein. The container holder may be agitated to effect movement of the container to place the protruding portion of the label into engagement with the projection, and thereby prevent further movement of the container and establish the position of the readable information contained on the label.
Preferably, the present invention includes a container rack having a plurality of cavities for individually accommodating a plurality of specimen collection containers. The rack includes a projecting stop which is engageable with the protrusion on the label. The rack may be vibrated to cause rotative movement of the containers in the cavities to place label protrusions in engagement with the projections which serves as a stop to align the scannable portions of the labels.